


Underwater

by Its_Grace_Murphy



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2020-07-25 01:30:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20024329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Its_Grace_Murphy/pseuds/Its_Grace_Murphy
Summary: While investigating an ocean-front amusement park, one of the four brothers falls into the water, and makes a life-changing discovery.





	1. Author's Note

Hello all! Grace here!

I'm going to be writing my first ever Fanfiction, based on a character concept I came up with a little while ago. I had this idea for a story, and am more writing it down here just so I have it, but I thought I might as well make it public because maybe someone else will like it too! :)

I'm still trying to figure out the bells and whistles on this website, as I'm fairly new to writing on here, so please forgive me if anything looks incorrect.

But anyway, happy reading!

With MUCH love,

Grace ♡


	2. The First Plunge

It was a day like any other for the brothers. Patrol. Catch wind of some sort of Krang operation. Check it out. Maybe fight a little. ...And repeat. It had become basic routine at this point. 

But... 

Something was different today- of course the turtles didn't _know_ that at the time. But, their little routine would soon be altered. 

On this specific day, Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo found themselves at an ocean-side fair/amusement park, the kind you'd find on a pier. The setup of this park was up all year, but usually only functioning in the summer months. Being that it was cold and foggy, it's fairly safe to assume New York was _not_ in it's summer months. Since everything was quiet and non-functioning, it certainly gave the air a thick layer of eeriness.

"Donnie....are you _sure_ this is the location..?" Leonardo quietly questioned. "Something doesn't seem right..." 

"Yes Leo..." Donatello responded, "This was the place the Krang said they were meeting-"

"Oh, and how did the Krang say that? Did you get the address in the Krang group-text?'' Raphael asked, sarcastically. He didn't seem very amused at this seeming-waste-of-time.

"Ha. Funny." Donatello rolls his eyes. "No actually, I managed to tap into their radio communication system for a short amount of time- you remember don't you? When we raided their warehouse yesterday?"

"Wrong topic Don." Raph replied, crossing his arms and looking in a different direction, checking out the surroundings. 

"As I was _saying_ -" Donnie continued, now slightly irritated. "They were talking about coming here to look for...well...I'm not entirely sure. The radio cut out after that, and I couldn't return to the signal." 

"So there could be something REEAAALL shady going on huh..?" Michelangelo chimed in.

"Or something real dangerous..." Leo said, beginning to scan the area as well. 

The four if them begin cautiously making their way around the fair grounds. Everything stilled seemed quiet, which was just so...so... _unusual_. 

The silence was suddenly broken however, when a Krang droid fired at the turtles. Followed but shots from all the _other_ Krang droids as well. Of course, all four of them were ready for this sort of attack, and almost immediately began attacking right back. 

After taking down a small mob of Krang, (15-20), a group twice as large started trickling in between the rides. 

"Uh...dudes? This is getting a little too gnarly-" Mikey said before getting knocked over by a laser beam.

"For once, I agree with the bonehead." Raph exclaimed before charging at their attackers once more. 

Leo looked at his brothers, and he could tell, they were all struggling with the sheer size of this mob. He sighs in defeat. "Okay okay let's--" but Leonardo doesn't get a chance to finish his sentence, before he's hit by the blast of a plasma cannon. The force of this blast sent him flying back, which caused him to fall over the railing of the pier, and plummeting into the water. 

The last thing he remembers feeling before plunging in the water, is everything going dark....


	3. What is that..?

The water was cold, and dark.

Leonardo wasn't out for long, opening his eyes he realized he was underwater. This, of course, set in a thick layer of panic over him, as he began struggling to regain his senses, and swim upwards. But...something seems wrong. He's trying to swim up, but he's not going anywhere. This is when he realized his belt and part of his shell were caught on a jagged nail sticking out of one of the wooden support beams holding up the pier. He tries to reach wherever it was it was caught, but it was too far back for his arm to reach. Now, obviously, Leo is more than half turtle, so he can hold his breath much longer than any human....but he cant hold his breath as long as any turtle either. He knew he probably had about ten minutes before he would black out, and possibly drown. He struggled for another few minutes, becoming more and more panicked as the minutes ticked by. But, out of nowhere, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Leo looks up and tries to focus his eyes the best he could under the water, and that's when he saw it. 

A figure, floating about 60 yards away from him, just...staring. 

He couldn't make out entirely what it was, but from what he could tell, it seems to be humanoid in appearance. He was more confused then anything at that moment, until he saw whatever it was swimming towards him. Now Leo was a bit unsettled to say the least. But, after blinking a few times, it suddenly seems to vanish. He starts to wonder if he imagined the whole thing in the midst of his panic, but suddenly he catches movement out of the corner of his eye again, this time much closer. He darts his head over to look where the movement was, but the thing was gone. But then he sees movement on the other side of him, darts his head, then again...nothing. Either this thing was REALLY fast in the water, or Leonardo is hallucinating the whole thing. .............That's when something started making it's way in front of him. 

A pair of dark eyes met his. 

He was almost in shock, unable to look away from the face in front of his. To be fair, the figure looking at him was just as surprised as he was, although more confused than anything. Leo realized this could be an opportunity to escape. Hoping the figure would help him, he pointed to the area where his belt and shell were caught. They seemed to understand, because the figure swam over to that area, and Leonardo was quickly released. His first instinct was to swim up to the surface, which he did. As he was doing so however, he looked down right before surfacing, and saw that his rescuer had once again vanished. 

Leo takes a big gasp of air as his head comes out of the water, and looks around at his surroundings. 

"Leo!!" He heard a voice call. It was Raph. Leonardo looks up to the pier to meet his brother's gaze, "Are you okay?"

But Leo doesn't answer. Mikey had thrown the rope of a grappling hood down, and attached the hook part of it to the railing of the pier. He climbs up, and steadies himself on the wooden floor once he reaches it. The brothers can tell Leo was shaken just by looking at him, which planted a seed of concern in each of their minds. 

"Leo...what's wrong dude..?" Mikey asked, a look of worry on his face. 

"I...I..." Leo stammered. 

"Leo...what happened down there..?" Donatello asked, stepping forward.

Leonardo looks up at his purple-masked brother. "It...It was a turtle...a turtle like...us..!"


	4. Another

"What do you _mean_ a turtle like us??" Donatello questioned, suddenly alarmed. Everyone was now surprised. 

"I mean exactly what I said!! I...I guess it didn't look _entirely_ like us- but, way too similar..." Leo replied, still a little shaken. "And...it helped me..it saved my life.." 

"Hm...Lets get you back to the lair and warmed up, we can talk more about it there." Donnie said. 

And that's exactly what they did. The four of them headed back to their home in the sewers, and Leonardo recounted the entire experience. From the first time he saw it, to how fast it moved, to what it looked like. 

"It was our size, a-and it was...well I guess a little paler..." 

"Okay...good, go on." Donnie said, writing down what Leo says onto his notepad.

"Um...I...oh- it had like, spots-- all over it." Leo said. 

"Spots?"

"Yes...spots..." Leo replied, trying to remember the encounter to the best of his abilities. "Dark spots. And its arms, like its forearms, were SUPER wide, I mean they were more like fins...When comparing them to our arms I guess. But, I mean, I'm pretty sure it had fingers, because it was able to get me unhooked..." 

"Is that everything?" Donnie asked. 

"I think so, the only thing I really- _truly_ got a good look at was it's eyes...they were..well different. I don't really know how to explain them."

"Fascinating..." Donnie half-mumbled as he jots that down as well on the pad. "It seems we're dealing with some sort of...mutant sea turtle, if your theory about the fins are to be correct." 

Raphael speaks up, "Sea turtle? In New York..? That sounds like a ton of-" 

"Actually Raph, it _is_ a thing. There are even some recorded instances of baby sea turtles hatching here on the beaches." Donnie says, sort of correcting him. 

"Do you think that was the thing the Krang were looking for..?" Mikey asks, spinning around in one of Donnie's rolling desk chairs. 

"It's possible," Donnie shrugs, "Maybe it was one of their mutant experiments and it escaped." 

"...I feel a little bad that we keep saying 'it'..." Leo chimes back in.

"Well..." Donnie begins, "Could you tell if the turtle was male or female..?" 

"I....no. Not really...it all happened so fast and the water made things not super clear..." 

"So what are going to do?" Raph asked, "Are we going to stick our non-existent noses into this Krang business....again..?" 

"I'm not entirely sure Raph, I mean as much as I'd _love_ to examine and research a new turtle, it didn't necessarily sound hostile or aggressive, so I wouldn't really call it a threat to anybody else." Donnie replied. 

"But aren't the Krang after it? Or _maybe_ after it?" Mikey asks.

"Mikey's right...that turtle could be in a lot of danger," Leo said, "And it did save me...I think we owe it enough to at least check it out." 

The other three brothers look around at one another, waiting for one of them to show some sort of opinion. 

"...I'm in." Mikey finally says. 

"I guess I'm with you two. I'm really not going to turn up the opportunity to research a new life form." Donnie added. 

"For the record, I think this is all nuts." Raph said, arms crossed. 

"So you're in Raph?" Leo asked.

"Yeah...I'm in. Lets find whatever this is." 


	5. Are you there?

The brothers went back to the pier the next night, hoping that was long enough for the Krang activity to cool down. Seemingly, it had, but then again...looks _can_ be deceiving.   
They all walk to the same railing area Leo had fallen from the previous day.

"Well...this is where it happened-- I mean, it happened down there technically..." Leo said, looking over the edge. 

"So how are we going to play through this?" Raphael questioned, "Just jump back in and hope your little ocean pal will save you again?" 

"I'm not entirely sure..." Leo replied, "But somehow, some way at least one of us needs to make it down there." 

"I dunno dude, that water seems pretty cold...don't think that's where I want to be right now." Mikey said, also looking over the railing at the ocean below. 

"Just for that, I vote Mikey goes down there." Raph said, smugly. 

"Knock it off Raph...I guess I'll go back down." Leo said. 

"I'll go too," Donnie chimed in, "If that thing is still down there, I'd like to see how it moves around in it's natural habitat...well...as natural as it can get anyway."

Donnie walks over to the railing and unfolds a rope ladder, which he'd carried from the lair for easy access to the water. He attaches it to the railing, and lowers it down, the end of it making a loud splash when it hits the water. 

"We'll search in ten minute intervals. Then come up for air- here, take this." Donnie said, giving Leo a headlamp. "It's waterproof. I'm sure it wont exactly be bright as day down there so, these should prove useful." 

"Alright," Leo said, putting it on, "Let's just get this started." 

Once the two of them were geared up, they both started to climb down. But before Leo's head went past the railing, he spoke up to his remaining two brothers. "Keep a lookout for anything suspicious okay?" He asked. 

At that same time, Michelangelo much have said something ridiculous, or at least ridiculous enough for Raph to shove his arm. Leo grumbles before heading down, considering Donatello had long since been in the water.   
The two of them began their search, shining their lights through the slightly murky New York water, with no result. They surface for the second time after twenty minutes passed. 

"To be honest Leo, I don't think whatever was here is still...well... here." Donnie said, now the tiniest bit tired. 

"Just hold on, let's just look one more time okay? It hasn't been _TOO_ long. It couldn't have gotten far. " Leo replied. 

Donatello sighs. "Okay, okay...one more time. But only for _science_." 

"Yes yes of course, science. Good call Donnie." Leo says with fake enthusiasm. 

The two of them head back under the water, and continue to search, but after another six or so minutes later, there was still nothing. Leo and Donnie had just about given up at this point...up until Leonardo turns around and is very suddenly surprised to see a face staring back at him. 

It was the turtle! 

Obviously, due to the sudden unexpected face mere inches from his own, Leo was startled. He let out a yelp that was muffled by the water, causing air to escape his mouth and bubble up to the surface. This small sound however, was enough to alert Donatello, so when he turns around, needless to say he was shocked. The turtle looks back at them, somewhat squinting and shielding it's eyes due to the beams of light coming from their headlamps. It seems to get used to the light fairly quickly though, because it begins examining the lamps closely, tapping them and whatnot. It seemed it had NO idea what they were. 

Donatello, on the other hand, was _completely_ floored. He'd seen a different species of turtle mutated before, that being Spike/Slash, but he was never expecting to see another one. The thing about this turtle however, was that it was't freakishly mutated- well...not _TOO_ freakishly mutated. Lets be honest, anything mutated is a bit freakish. But back on track. The turtle looked more like the brothers, rather than Spike. He looked at it, and it looked at him, and was twice as curious. 

There was _ANOTHER_ one of these strange being's in it's water! 

It swam over to Donnie, tapping his headlamp too. It then started poking at him, every time it did it would retract quickly, not knowing if either of the brothers would attack for it, but, no surprise, they didn't. 

Meanwhile on the surface, Raphael and Michelangelo were bored out of their skulls. Not a single thing was happening, and they could only be entertained by watching their lights float around underwater for so long. Mikey was swinging around and hanging off of some stationary carnival ride, not paying attention in the slightest. Raphael on the other hand, had his arms leaning over the railing, and was carving random things into the wood with his sai. Something caught his attention though. There looked like there was a boat, dimly lit by a purple-pink glow, headed towards the two bright balls of light attached to his brothers' heads....  
Oh no... 

Raphael knew that boat or whatever it was could only mean one thing. Krang.   
He didn't know what to do, he couldn't call his brothers, he couldn't shout because he knows they wouldn't hear, and he knows it's not a good idea to jump out after them. He decides to take the plan of action that best suits him. Throwing things. At first he tried smoke bombs, no affect. Then he tries throwing stars, and well, that works a little too well. 

Under the water, Donatello was definitely in his element while examining the new turtle, (or at least to the best of his abilities, he was underwater after all). While he was looking at one of it's fins, when throwing stars suddenly started plunging into the water from the surface, and the two of them knew that could only mean trouble. One of the stars, however, grazed it's way along the other turtle's arm/fin, causing it to start bleeding, a little heavily too, which isn't safe. It holds it's arm as it begins to retreat in fear, but not wanting to risk the severity of the injury, Donatello gently grabs the turtle's other fin, as not to spook it. It looked up at Donatello and Leonardo, and for some reason didn't feel threatened, and just sort of let them do as they wished. It was a very peaceful creature. 

When the three of them surfaced, they saw what Raphael was trying to warn them about. The boat was heading for them at high speeds, and once the headlamps showed that they had surfaced, the Krang didn't hesitate to fire at them. 

"Hurry! Go!" Leo tried to tell the turtle but, it really didn't seem to understand. Now frustrated, Leo acts before thinking, and grabs the turtle by the arm, and starts pulling it along to the ladder. It didn't seem to know how to use that either, so after Donnie climbed up, Leo followed after him, practically carrying the turtle with his arm wrapped around their waist. Once they reached the top, Leo unsheathed his katana and sliced through the rope ladder before the rope could reach it, hopefully that would slow them down. Then, they all started running.   
Once they felt they'd gone far enough, they stopped, and that's when the weight of the situation set in. 

"Dude...is that..?" Mikey said, absolutely flabbergasted.

"I don't believe what I'm seeing..!" Raph said, just as shocked. 

"Now you know how we feel..." Donnie said. 

Now that they were in a better lit, and not murky area, Donnie could get a much better look at it. Dressing it's wound was no problem, it just needed a bandage, no stitches. The amount of blood just made it seem like a much more serious wound. 

"Nice going Raph." Leo said, a bit harshly. 

"What? You're saying this is my fault?" Raph said, aggressively defensive. "I saved your butts out there." 

"Yeah, but isn't there anything ELSE you could have thrown?" Leo asked, also getting defensive. 

"Hey guys? We might have bigger pizzas to bake here." Donnie said, just finishing up the bandaging.

Mikey stared directly at the turtle, still in awe like a child looking at a display through a store window. "WHAT. IS. YOUR. NAAAMME. ? " He said. He sounded like he was trying to speak to an old deaf person. Every one collectively yelled "Mikey!" At this fairly ridiculous. 

The sudden raise in volume startles the turtle, and it hides behind Leonardo. 

"Hey- hey don't be scared, I was just messing around..." Mikey said, now with his voice lowered. It only peaked it's head around Leo. 

"See?" Mikey shows his hands, "I'm not gonna hurt you. None of us are- right guys?" 

"Well not unless it attacks first." Raph said, skeptically crossing his arms. 

"C'mon Raph, give her a chance." 

"Her?'' Leo asked. "How do you know?"

"Well, assuming that this turtle was mutated after the last thing it touched was a human, like us, her human DNA would give her bone structure a more female model. AKA why her hips are much wider than yours, the pelvic bone in female skeletons is much wider for, well, life-giving reasons. On the turtle aspect of it however? Her tail isn't very long at all. Male sea-turtles have a very long tale, getting as long as a foot sometimes."

"Why were you looking at her tail?" Raph questioned, raising an eye-ridge. 

"To answer this QUESTION Raph! Get your mind out of the gutter!" Donnie exclaimed, now being the one to get defensive. "She obviously can't answer that herself anyway, she has no comprehension of speech." 

"How do we know she's just not shy?" Leo chimed in. 

"We don't know that, but it's safe to assume she doesn't with how she doesn't follow along that we're having a conversation.'' Donnie replied. 

While the three eldest were talking, Mikey managed to sneak behind Leo to where the sea turtle was hiding, to inspect the situation closer.

"So uh...do you have a name?" Mikey asked. 

All she did was stare at him confused, cocking her head. The most sound that came out of er was this soft, animalistic cooing noise. 

"Perhaps I have to approach this sitch'i'ation differently..." Mikey said to himself. He looks up at the turtle and points to his chest, "Mikey. Mike-y." 

She cocks her head the other direction now, examining his behavior. She makes another cooing noise. Mikey gives up after this, thinking he wont get anywhere with her but then,

"K-..." She began to try to say. Everyone stopped whatever they were saying, and turned to look at her. 

"Your name is Kuh?" Mikey asked, cofused. 

"Ko-..."

"Your name is Ko? That's interesting..."

"Mikey! Let her finish!" Leo exclaimed. 

The sea turtle squints her eyes shut tightly, and scrunches her face. It looked like she was REALLY trying to remember/think about something. She suddenly opens her eyes, looks up at them, and places her finger where a nose would be. 

"Kor-a.....Kora." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there!  
> If you didn't already know, I have a Wattpad account as well, and I will post the occasional drawing to said Wattpad!  
> The one I'm linking down below is my character design for Kora! Go check that out if you'd like a visual aid! :) 
> 
> https://www.wattpad.com/764713783-underwater-tmnt-2012-fanfiction-sea-turtle-design


	6. Homesick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! Just wanted to say I'm sorry for the gap of time between this post and the last. I just needed to take some personal time away from the internet for mental health reasons. Home you understand!   
> Much love! ♡

"Kora?" Mikey asked, "That's your name?"

Kora lifted her arm up once again, and touched her finger to her nose. "Kora..." she said. She had a very strange accent- at least, she did while saying her name. No one knows what she would sound like saying anything else. 

"Uh...why does she keep doing that dude?" Mikey looked over at his brothers, hoping for an answer. 

"Your guess is as good as mine- well...maybe not yours Mikey." Donatello said. "But, if I were to guess, I'd say it's a learned behavior from...someplace."

"So then she can talk?" Raphael asked. 

"She can at least say her name." Donnie replied. 

"Can you tell us where you're from?" Leo asked. He was looking at Kora, hoping for an answer. All she did was cock her head to the side in confusion. The only vocal response he got from her was another animalistic coo. Like a strange mixture between a bird and a whale. 

"Something tells me you're not gonna get very far with her." Raph said. 

"For once...I agree." Leo replied. He looks around at everyone, "So what now? The Krang are all over where she made her home, they're looking for her." 

"We think they're looking for her...we never actually figured out what it was technically." Donnie corrected his brother. 

"Well whatEVER it is," Leo gives an annoyed glare to his brother, "She's not safe going back from where she came."

"Big deal, just throw her back in some other part of the ocean, it's plenty big enough." Raph said. 

"It's not that simple Raph-"

"I think it is that simple Leo. What, did you want to take her back to the lair as a pet..?!" 

Leo pauses for a moment, trying to find the words as quickly as possible.

"Well...not as a pet..."

"Unbelievable!!" Raph yelled, throwing his hands up in the air and turning around. 

"Maybe it would be a good idea for, Kora was it? To come back, just for a little bit. I just want to make sure the water didn't infect her cut. " Donnie said. 

"Yeah..!" Leo said, looking at Raph and acting like he was the one who made the solid point. 

"Alright!! Sleepover!!" Mikey exclaimed, suddenly bursting with excitement.

"Lets just get back alright? It's getting late, we don't want to upset Master Splinter. " Leo said.

"Oh, and bringing a mutant sea turtle back with us won't do that already??" Raph replied, sarcastically. 

"Back off Raph..." 

"No- you know what? I'm not going to do that. You just need to realize not every problem in the world is yours to solve Leo"

"Jesus Raph, what the shell is your problem...?!"

"I'm not the one with the problem Mr. Perfect Hero!"

"Seriously Raph. Cut. It. OUT."

"How do you know she isn't dangerous?!" 

"LOOK at her Raph!" Leo gestures to Kora, who was find herself amused with the dangling ties of Donatello's mask, at one point trying to chew on them.

"Looks can be deceiving Lame-O-Nardo!"

"Oh, so we're going to resort to name calling then? Real mature Raph-" 

"Guys," Donnie steps in, "This isn't going to get us anywhere. How about we just take a vote, okay? All for taking her back home- hey , stop that." Donatello stops Kora from trying to eat his mask for a second time. "All for taking her back home, raise your hand." 

Mikey raises his hand almost immediately, followed by Donnie and Leo. 

"All opposed?" Donnie asks.

Raphael raises his hand, looking Leo directly in the eye, a glare of spite on his face. 

"Sorry Raph, looks like you're outnumbered." Donnie said. 

"Come on guys...lets just go home." Leo said. 

"Home..?" Kora perked her head up. Everyone looks at her, surprised she said a new word. 

"That's right dude! Er...dudette?" Mikey replied. 

"Home." Kora starts looking around, suddenly realizing she was lost from wherever it was she originally came. As sweet as she is, she's not exactly the quickest thinker. "H-Home..?!"

"Hey hey- it's okay...calm down, everything is okay.." Michelangelo looks Kora in the eyes, holding her shoulder to keep her still. "Why are you freaking out?" 

"Home..." Kora replied, sadly. 

"You're homesick?" Mikey asked. "Oh dude...that's always a major bummer. But we can try and help find your home- right Leo?" He turns to his brother. 

Leo looks back at Mikey, then at Kora. He sighs. "Maybe...but it's past our curfew...let's go guys." 

And with that, they head off, making their way back to their lair, under the cover of night.


	7. Another Author's note

Hey everybody- Grace here. Honestly, I really don't have any excuses for not writing for so long, and I am so sorry to you wonderful people for reading and enjoying the few chapters I've written, you mean the world to me. I've been going through a really hard time in my life, and I honestly just haven't had much motivation to do anything creative at all. I'm so so sorry, I promise, a new chapter is coming.   
Much love!   
Grace


End file.
